"My frustration with the group has largely reflected the concerns expressed so convincingly by those online critics who have been willing to bring the fury of Invisible Children's true believers down upon themselves in order to point out what is wrong with this group's approach: the warmongering, the narcissism, the commercialisation, the reductive and one-sided story they tell, their portrayal of Africans as helpless children in need of rescue by white Americans.

As a result of Invisible Children's irresponsible advocacy, civilians in Uganda and central Africa may have to pay a steep price in their own lives so that a lot of young Americans can feel good about themselves, and a few can make good money. This, of course, is sickening, and I think that Kony 2012 is a case of Invisible Children having finally gone too far. They are now facing a backlash from people of conscience who refuse to abandon their capacity to think for themselves."

Tue Mar 13, 2012 2:05 am

futuristxen

Joined: 01 Jul 2002
Posts: 19377
Location: Tighten Your Bible Belt

I'm pretty consistent in my rejection of military action against other people's business. So I've not had very much interest in KONY 2012 beyond it's phenemoneon as a viral crazy thing.

Twitter/Social Media never ceases to amaze me in it's ability to disperse, morph, and regurgitate information bombs. I first saw the KONY hashtag from Neil Gaiman on both tumblr and twitter. And then like a week later the daily show is doing a bit about it. It's been interesting to watch it go from "OMG this is terrible we need to do something" to "whoa wait a minute, is that a nigerian prince there in the background" to "well no one is doing anything anways, 70 million hits be damned" to ...well whatever is next. The backlash, response to the backlash, the backlash to the response to the backlash--all you could see coming, but still interesting to watch.

The significance in the Kony thing is how it uses pop culture tools of celebrity to go after 2D villians. Which is both exciting and scary. And it also shows that the only people who are important in our culture are celebrities. Something as innocuous as just plastering this guy's face around everywhere DOES seem to move the wheels of our civilization an inch.

An effective internet meme/popular hashtag, seems to be as effective right now as millions of people camping out protesting does. It no longer really seems to be about boots on the ground, so much as entertainment/content generation on social media. And if you do it well enough it gets into the mainstream 24 hour soup, and that is what forces the advertisers and politicians to listen, because that's where the power shifts the fastest.

Anyways. I don't know why we're so worried about this Kony guy. I'm pretty sure the predator is already on this one.

Tue Mar 13, 2012 9:41 am

Jesse Custer

Joined: 01 Dec 2006
Posts: 1258
Location: London

futuristxen wrote:

Anyways. I don't know why we're so worried about this Kony guy. I'm pretty sure the predator is already on this one.

I've just seen a link to this on Buzzfeed and now know what you're talking about... It's brilliant!

^^ Hey i'm sure that music video has helped countless people get through some tough times.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 5:53 pm

T-Wrexp00ny tang

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 6410
Location: Detroit, Michigan

LOL ^^^

that gives me an idea...
gimme a few minutes...

Thu Mar 15, 2012 6:15 pm

T-Wrexp00ny tang

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 6410
Location: Detroit, Michigan

Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:03 pm

xGasPricesx

Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 1593

Hahahaha, that is amazing. You win the internet for today.

Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:22 pm

mancabbage

Joined: 29 Jun 2005
Posts: 9273
Location: london

you know that annoying friend you have on facebook who is going on a fundraising trip (holiday) to thailand where they're gona cycle from fuckin x to y 'for a charity' and want you to donate cash to help them do it, but of course the first four hundred they raise are just for them to get there..... yeah, this kony thing is just that on a larger scale man

Cycle round salford then ill give you a tenner. Or sit in a tub of beans.

+ the lead guy looks like the paedophile from donny darko before he got old. Go eat a bucket of sand ya smiley faced white toothed cunt

Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:26 pm

T-Wrexp00ny tang

Joined: 30 Jun 2002
Posts: 6410
Location: Detroit, Michigan

What do I win?

Thu Mar 15, 2012 7:34 pm

xGasPricesx

Joined: 23 May 2008
Posts: 1593

Nothing really, just a stupid saying that should have ended back in 2005, but for some reason I couldn't help myself from saying it. Either way, good work.